The Fool Who Follows Him
by Browncoats and Floral Bonnets
Summary: A whump fic with no plot. Like, none. In which Keith is injured and Lance is there for him, feat. a bonding moment or three. Rating for violence and a wee bit of language. Enjoy! Also how 'bout that season 3 teaser!


This was written for a whump exchange. Enjoy!

XXX

Lance kicked at the gritty sand, making a face. "I feel like we're on one of the, like, million desert planets in _Star Wars_ ," he griped. Keith looked at him sideways.

"In what?" Keith asked, before walking a few feet to peek over the edge of the canyon they'd landed next to.

Lance groaned, but managed to resist the urge to punch the other Paladin in the arm. "You've gotta be kidding me! It's only one of the most iconic sci-fi franchises in history!"

Keith turned back to face him and snorted, shaking his head. "You and your ancient nerd crap."

Lance narrowed his eyes, opening his mouth to argue, when something whistled past him. He looked over his shoulder to see where it had come from, and when he turned back, his stomach dropped.

Keith was looking at him with wide eyes, an arrow sticking out of his side, in the black part of his armor.

"Keith," Lance said, his voice shaking as he took a step forward. Keith looked back down at the arrow, his face pale, and stumbled backward. " _Keith_!" Lance screamed it now and suddenly Keith vanished over the edge of the canyon. "No! Keith!"

Lance ran forward, falling to his knees before the gaping maw and leaning was a ledge, about fifteen feet down, and Keith was lying on it, unmoving. Lance's heart jumped.

 _Keith might still be alive._

"Blue, I need you!" Lance cried, dropping to his stomach to avoid another volley of arrows. She was there in a second, letting out a roar and putting herself between Lance and the arrows.

Lance scrambled to his feet, gave Blue a quick rub under the chin, and clambered aboard. He threw on his helmet and hoped desperately that the other two had been smart enough to leave their helmets on.

"Shiro!" he said, closing his eyes and hoping for a response.

" _Yeah,"_ came the response a moment later, and Lance let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"Shiro, you guys need to get over here _now_. There's someone here and they're shooting arrows at me and K-" The breath rushed from him as he though of the red Paladin. He swallowed. "Keith is hit."

" _What?"_ Shiro and Hunk shouted at the same time, and Lance winced.

"He got hit by an arrow and he...he fell off a cliff. But he landed on a ledge, not too far down! I'm gonna find some rope and go down there."

" _Like hell you are,"_ Shiro said. " _Stay put. Hunk and I will be there soon, and we'll figure out what to do together."_

"No can do, Shiro," Lance answered, walking back to search for some rope.

" _Lance-"_

"I can't just leave him down there! Shiro, I care about him!" Lance cried.

" _We all care about him, Lance, you-"_

Lance took off his helmet before Shiro could finish. He found rope a few seconds later.

"Gotcha," he muttered, grabbing a coiled rope. He hurried out of his lion and ran to her tail. "I used to do this to my cat Yoda to see if I could get her to chase the string, but I need you not to do that, k sweetheart? I appreciate it."

Working quickly, he tied one end of the rope to the base of Blue's tail, checking and double-checking his knot before throwing the rope over the edge of the canyon. He looked down and was relieved to see that it reached the ledge and then some.

"Alright, Keith, I'm coming," Lance murmured, grateful for the first time in his life for the rope-climbing course he'd been forced to take a few summers ago. He was on the ledge in an instant, and his stomach turned. There was blood beneath Keith's head, and Lance had to swallow back the urge to vomit as he saw Keith's left leg. It was bent oddly, and halfway down the lower part of it bone was visible, sticking out through the skin.

Lance did his best to ignore it (though he knew he would never get the sight of it out of his mind) and hurried up to Keith's side. He put two trembling fingers to Keith's neck, his heart hammering wildly and almost cried with relief when he felt a pulse.

"Keith," Lance said softly, patting his fellow Paladin's cheek. "Keith?"

Keith let out a small groan, his eyes moving beneath the lids, and then they fluttered open.

"Lance?" He closed his eyes again, his face screwing up in pain. "Damn, m' leg hurts."

"Yeah, you kinda broke it when you fell," Lance responded. He was pretty sure Keith had a concussion, and some memory came to him that he should keep the injured Paladin awake. He gave his shoulder a gentle shake. "Open those eyes for me, Keith. You know where we are?"

Keith blinked up at Lance with bleary eyes. "We're on...some shitty moon. Allura sent us to find some liquid mineral or somethin'. We were talking and then…" His eyes widened and he reached for the arrow in his side. Lance grabbed his hand before he could touch it.

"Hey. Don't touch that, okay? You just leave that alone. Shiro and Hunk are on their way and we're gonna get you back to the castle and into one of those healing pods and you'll be fine!" Lance said it with all the confidence he could muster.

The truth was he was scared shitless.

"'m cold," Keith said, his voice barely more than a whisper. "And...and I'm scared."

Lance forced a smile as he laced his fingers between Keith's. "You're gonna be just fine, Keith. I promise. You really think a tiny arrow and a little fall are a match for your stubborn ass?"

Keith looked up at Lance, locking eyes with him. "What if I never see Earth again?" There was blood on his lips. Lance wondered when it had gotten there.

"You kiddin' me? We're gonna save the universe and be back home before you know it. You're gonna watch the sunset again-a good old Earth sunset, with a single sun and a single moon to take its place, and with all the brilliant colors in between. You're gonna feel the rain again, cool and fresh on your face until it soaks your clothes and that stupid mullet of yours. And we're gonna watch _Star Wars_ together and you're gonna love it! Calling it right now, your favorite character is gonna be Darth Vader. We could watch _Star Trek_ too, if you wanted. You're pretty much Spock in real life. Half human-half alien hybrid, no sense of humor, with a charming and devastatingly handsome best friend. And we'll eat real pizza! And soda and _ice-cream_."

A small smile played at Keith's lips. ""m lactose intolerant."

Lance gasped in mock horror. "No shit! Well, we'll make it a sorbet instead of ice-cream and burgers instead of pizza. How does that sound?"

Keith closed his eyes. "I can almost taste it." When he opened them again, there was mischief dancing in his eyes. "It's a wonder I'm not...not allergic to _your_ cheesy ass."

Lance let out a laugh. "Maybe not so humorless after all, huh? Don't worry, I won't tell the others." Speaking of the others, he looked up to see the black and yellow lions flying toward them, and he let out a sigh of relief. "Shiro and Hunk are almost here, Keith! We'll have you back to the castle in a jiffy."

"Good, 'cus 'm... 'm having a hard time staying awake."

"Just a few more minutes, Keith," Lance assured him, squeezing his hand.

"Lance!" a voice called, making him jump. He looked behind him to see Shiro, kneeling at the edge of the canyon and looking down. "How is he?"

"Well, there's an arrow sticking out of his side, I think he has a concussion, and he left leg is really messed up, but he's still conscious. We've got to get him to the castle."

Shiro nodded. "Okay. Why don't you tie that rope around him and Hunk and I will pull him up, then we'll get you. Sound good?"

Lance bit the inside of his lip. He didn't want to move the Paladin and risk injuring him further, but there wasn't really any other choice. He let out a long breath. "Okay," he called up to Shiro. He looked back at Keith. "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah," he answered breathlessly, his face somehow paler.

"I'm gonna have to move you and it's gonna hurt. A lot. You got this?"

Keith nodded, looking determined. "Yeah."

Lance nodded too, giving Keith's hand one last squeeze before standing and walking behind him. He bent down, grabbing the red Paladin under the armpits. "You ready?"

"Ready."

Lance had barely moved before a scream ripped out of Keith's throat and he froze.

"Keith?" he called. Keith's face was now devoid of any color and he was gasping in pain.

"Kee...keep going," he panted. "'m…'m okay."

Lance took a deep breath and started moving again. Keith let out another scream, and was unconscious in just a few steps. Lance crossed the rest of the short distance to the rope quickly before tying it around Keith. He tugged on it to make sure before calling up to the other Paladins.

"Take him up!" He watched with a sick feeling as Keith's limp body was hauled up the side of the cliff, flopping like a ragdoll. When the rope came back down, he scrambled quickly to the top. He was out of breath when he got there, Hunk looking at him worriedly.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Lance said, turning to Shiro. "Put Keith in my lion. I'm the fastest out of the three of us."

"Lance…" Shiro began.

"You know I'm right, Shiro! He doesn't have time!"

Shiro looked concerned but didn't argue further. "You're right," he said, carefully scooping Keith into his arms. "Lead the way."

Lance wasted no time getting into his lion, and as soon as Shiro was back on the moon's surface, he took off for the castle. Coran and Allura were waiting for them, and Lance and Coran carried Keith out of Blue and into the healing room.

"Oh, dear," Allura muttered, and Lance's heart jumped.

"Oh dear _what_?" he cried.

"We have to get him out of his armor before we put him in a healing pod, and to do that we're going to have to remove the arrow and set his leg. Shiro will be here any second-"

"No," Lance interrupted. "No, I'll do it. I've been by his side through all of this. I'll do it."

Allura nodded curtly. "Very well. His leg first. I need you to hold it above the knee, as tightly as you can. I'm going to pull it so the bone is back under the skin, so I need you to make sure the rest of his leg stays still."

"Okay," Lance said, holding onto Keith's leg and closing his eyes. He really didn't want to see this.

"Okay, on three. One, two-"

Lance felt a tug and Keith let out a strangled cry. Lance squeezed his eyes shut tighter, wishing he could shut his ears, too.

"Done!" Allura cried, and Lance opened his eyes. Keith was staring at the ceiling, letting out panting sobs.

"Hey," Lance said, moving closer, rubbing a hand over Keith's forehead and smoothing his hair back. "You're doing great, Keith. We've gotta take the arrow out next and then we'll get you out of this armor and into a pod. You're almost there, buddy. You've got this."

Keith nodded through his tears. "Okay."

"Okay. You're doing great." He looked back at Allura. "Now what?"

"Grab his knife. We need to cut the material away from the arrow so it's easier to remove."

Lance obeyed, reaching over Keith to the sheath on his hip, pulling the knife out and handing it to Allura. She moved quickly and carefully, but still bumped the arrow, eliciting a whimper from Keith. She looked up at Lance.

"Hold his shoulders," she said quietly, and he obeyed. "Okay, Keith, on three. One-" She yanked out the arrow, and Keith let out a small gasp before losing consciousness once more. She shifted her gaze to Lance now. "He's bleeding. We need to move quickly."

"Okay," he answered, and he and Allura went to work removing Keith's armor. When it was gone, Lance could see just how much blood his friend was losing.

It made his stomach turn.

Shiro, whose presence Lance hadn't even notice, picked up Keith and put him in the healing pod, the door closing and encasing the red Paladin. Someone, Lance wasn't sure who, asked how he was doing but he didn't answer, walking quickly out of the room and breaking into a run as soon as he was in the hall. He ran to the nearest bathroom, shutting himself in and losing the contents of his stomach. He dry heaved a couple of times before sitting back, chest heaving as sobs threatened to overtake him.

There was a knock on the door, followed by call of, "Lance?" that could only have come from Shiro. Lance stood, rubbing at his eyes and struggling to get control of his tears, and opened the door. He was surprised when Shiro immediately pulled him into a hug.

"He's gonna be okay. He was lucky to have you with him. He really needed your strength and you gave it to him."

Lance sniffled. "Strength?" he mumbled into Shiro's chest. "Do you see me? I'm a mess."

Shiro ruffled his hair lightly, and Lance could hear a smile in his voice. "Strength doesn't mean not being a mess, Lance. It means doing what needs to be done despite the mess. You were great out there today."

Lance pulled himself out of the hug, wiping a sleeve across his nose. "Thanks, Shiro. I think I'm gonna go get some shut-eye."

"You've definitely earned it," Shiro responded. "Let me know if you need to talk. About anything."

"Will do," Lance answered, before going to his room and crashing on the bed.

XXX

This ship was dark and quiet when Lance got out of bed and padded over to the healing room. He sat by himself, watching over Keith through the night.

XXX

The next day, the rest of the Paladins, along with Allura and Coran, were gathered around in a baited silence when the pod opened with a _whoosh_ , and Keith stumbled out, a little unsteady on his feet. Shiro was at his side immediately.

"Hey guys," Keith said, looking a little shell-shocked.

"How are you feeling?" Allura asked.

"Tired," Keith answered. "Alive, and tired."

"I'll help you to your room!" Lance volunteered immediately, getting him expressions with varied degrees of confusion from everyone else.

Keith shrugged. "Okay."

Lance ignored the looks on everyone's faces as he pulled Keith's arm around his shoulder and guided him down the hall to his room. Both of them walked in silence that was so thick with tension Keith could've cut it with one of his knives. When they finally got to Keith's room, Lance helped lower him to the ground.

"I'm glad you're okay," Lance said, though it didn't even begin to cover the range of feelings rushing through him. Keith didn't say anything, so Lance turned to leave.

"Wait," Keith said.

Lance turned back.

"Thank you. You saved my life," Keith said.

Lance felt himself blush. "Nah, I-"

"No, you did. I was ready to give up, but then you were there, talking about Earth and keeping me awake and...I'd be glad to watch _Star Wars_ with you. Maybe even _Star Trek_." Keith looked at the floor as he spoke, his cheeks pink.

Lance smiled. "Okay, mullet-head. You've got it." He narrowed his eyes. "Are you really lactose intolerant?"

Keith grinned. "Oh, yeah. It's bad. Now get out of here so I can sleep."

"Whatever, Kogane," Lance said, walking out with a wave. The smile would stay on his face for days.


End file.
